Larry Brown Sports

Maria Sharapova may have gotten destroyed by Victoria Azarenka in the finals of the Sony Ericsson Open Saturday, but she still managed plenty of big wins along the way. The most notable victory for Sharapova came in the semis against Andrea Petkovic whom she defeated 3-6, 6-0, 6-2. The win avenged a 4th round loss to Petko in the Australian Open, and you could tell Sharapova took pride in the win, and beating Petkovic specifically.

As LBS contributor Sam shared with us, Busted Racquet picked up on some digs Sharapova threw at Petkovic in her post-match press conference. From the transcription via Tennis-X, Sharapova said:

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German tennis player Andrea Petkovic debuted her famous “Petko Dance” at the U.S. Open last year and gained much fanfare, but unfortunately the jig will be short-lived. After knocking off world number one Caroline Wozniacki at the Sony Ericsson Open Monday, Petkovic said she planned to retire the Petko Dance after the tournament. “I’m a little sad,” Petkovic said. “It was a nice phase and it was nice fun, but now I’m getting a little tired of it. Time to move on.”

Here’s the original Petko Dance if you haven’t seen it yet:

Luckily Petkovic defeated Jelena Jankovic in the quarters on Tuesday to keep the dance alive, but fans need to take in the jubilation every chance they can. At best, there will be two more times we get to see it before we have to rely on YouTube’s archives. As for Petkovic’s reasoning, it’s pretty clear she wants to be known for being a serious tennis player, not someone with a cute dance. The way she’s played this year, she’s on her way towards building a new reputation.

UPDATE: Petkovic lost to Maria Sharapova in the semis and her run at the tournament ended Thursday. Hopefully the Petko Dance won’t be permanently retired.